A Federal Judge just heard arguments to halt North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Law HB2

A federal judge has just heard arguments from both sides on North Carolina’s discriminatory and likely unconstitutional HB2, signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory. Plaintiffs are asking U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder to halt enforcement of HB2 while various lawsuits against it play out.

Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina and Jenner & Block, a century-old law firm based in Chicago, are challenging HB2 on behalf of six LGBT North Carolinians and members of the ACLU of North Carolina, according to a statement by Lambda Legal.

“All I want is to use the appropriate restroom, in peace, just like everyone else,” 28-year old Joaquín Carcaño told the court. ”It’s humiliating that this law separates me from my peers and treats me like a second-class citizen,” Carcaño said, according to Lambda Legal, who describes him as “a UNC-Chapel Hill employee and transgender man who is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.”

ACLU attorney Chase Strangio posted this tweet today:

Judge to Gov McCrory counsel today: “What is the problem that HB2 intended to solve?” No answer offered.

In addition to banning transgender people from using public restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, HB2 voids all local LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances in North Carolina and removes local power over minimum wage and employment discrimination laws – handing control over to state lawmakers.

“Every day that House Bill 2 remains on the books, transgender people in North Carolina remain in the perilous position of being forced to avoid public restrooms or risk violation of state law,” ACLU of North Carolina Legal Director Chris Brook said. “This cruel, insulting and unconstitutional law targets transgender people in North Carolina and causes irreparable harm. It must be put on hold while it is reviewed by the court.”

Judge Thomas Schroeder of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2007. He is best-known as a corporate attorney representing the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Last week, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his ruling that had upheld North Carolina’s new voter ID law. In its ruling, the 4th Circuit effectively admonished Schroeder’s ruling as having “missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees.”

By all accounts HB2 has been expensive for the entire state.

Governor Pat McCrory is losing his re-election battle after signing the bill into law in May. TheNBA just recently announced after months of trying, unsuccessfully, to get state Republican lawmakers to repeal HB2, it is pulling the 2017 All-Star Game out of North Carolina, costing an estimated $100 million. Boycotts by entertainers and the film and TV industry, and others, have cost local businesses untold millions, possibly hundreds of millons of dollars, and thus the state millions in tax revenue – not to mention the loss of jobs. The law has put the LGBT community on edge, and most of all, made day to day functioning in society difficult for the Tar Heel State’s transgender citizens.

At the intersection of politics, religion, law, social justice, and civil rights, The New Civil Rights Movement is a broadly cited media organization delivering news and opinion dedicated to the wide interests of the progressive and LGBT communities.

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